G20 Riyadh Summit will be chaired by the Saudi King, Salman bin Abdulaziz. The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia assumed the G20 Presidency in December 2019, leading up to the Leaders’ Summit to be held in Riyadh on 21-22 November 2020. The Kingdom will guide the work of the G20 under the theme of “Realizing Opportunities of the 21st Century for All” and will focus on three aims:
Empowering People by creating the conditions in which all people – especially women and youth – can live, work and thrive.
Safeguarding the Planet: by fostering collective efforts to protect our global commons.
Shaping New Frontiers: by adopting long-term and bold strategies to share benefits of innovation and technological advancement.
First Sherpa meeting
The meeting was chaired by H.E. Dr. Fahad Almubarak, the Saudi Sherpa, who elaborated: “The G20 has a responsibility to the world to overcome current and emerging issues, to tackle global challenges together, and to make the world a better place for all."
Sideline events
In the sideline of the summit, Saudi Arabia will be organizing preparatory ministerial meetings as well as other meetings of high governmental officials and representatives from the private sector and non-governmental organizations.
Emergency Meeting
On 26 March 2020, the G20 members held an emergency summit via video conference, maintaining social distancing amid COVID-19, in order to plan a coordinated global response against the COVID-19 pandemic Chaired by King Salman of Saudi Arabia, who is presiding the G20 Summit for 2020, the meeting aimed at finding ways to tackle the economic implications of the virus on global economy, with people losing their jobs and incomes due to lockdowns and curfews imposed across globe. Human rights organization, Amnesty International expressed disappointment at the exclusion of human rights-compliant action plans in the emergency summit. A series of demands such as, moving towards a zero-carbon economy, guaranteeing access of information to all, fully integrated gender perspective plans, were made by Amnesty. In addition, the NGO also demanded the release of pre-trial detainees, where possible, and prisoners of conscience such as Saudi Arabia’s Raif Badawi, Loujain al-Hathloul, and Samar Badawi, to prevent prison population and the potential spread of coronavirus owing to their low immunity.
Historical background
Saudi Arabia's first participation in the G20 meetings was in 2008 Washington summit. By then and as the world suffered from a global crisis, Saudi Arabia was the tenth largest sovereign wealth fund in the world and the second largest oil reserves. Initially, the Saudi entrance to the G20 was due to its economic importance as an effective pricing force in the energy market.
